Journalist's murder highlights Honduras' media oppression

[Judi Lynn]

Friday, 20 May 2011, 11:41 am
Press Release: IFEX
Journalist's murder highlights Honduras' media oppression

May 18, 2011 - A journalist who reported on corruption and local land disputes was gunned down last week in Honduras, the 10th journalist to have been murdered since March 2010, report the Observatorio Latinoamericano para la Libertad de Expresión (OLA) and other IFEX members. In not one case has the murder been solved, accounting for Honduras's status as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world.

Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco, who produced and hosted the TV9 news programme for the Omega Visión cable company, was shot outside his home in Morazán on 10 May by at least two unidentified gunmen who had been following him. He died from related complications the next day.

The 35-year-old journalist was known in the local community for his exposure of corruption allegedly implicating the Morazán mayor's office. He had also reported on land conflicts involving local ranch owners.

Medina Polanco's brother, Carlos Alberto, told OLA that Héctor Francisco had been threatened several times over the past six months and reported the threats to both national and international authorities.

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1105/S00464/journalists-murder-highlights-honduras-media-oppression.htm